Before last week, I had no idea what God Mode was. It only came to my attention after noticing some people mentioning it on Twitter. When I started to do some research on the game, I was pretty surprised to learn it’s a third-person arena shooter that takes place in purgatory. I’ve also been reading some not-so-flattering comments about the game. Fueled by curiosity, I downloaded God Mode and played it over the last three days. If you’re also curious about this game, read on for a breakdown and my first impressions.

So here’s the thing. God Mode is about a descendant of a god who Hades declared was not good enough to sit atop Mt. Olympus. In order to prove Hades wrong and become a god, you have to shoot your way through The Maze of Hades. Fortunately, you’ll have up to three other players helping you out along the way.

God Mode was made for online cooperative play. If you don’t have a Xbox Live subscription, a decent internet connection, or just don’t like playing with others online, skip this game. You won’t make it too far without help. You should also avoid God Mode if you want some kind of story. I just told you what the story is. There aren’t any cutscenes to explain the story further. You’re a corpse with guns with aspirations to become a god. That’s it. If you love constantly shooting the undead and monsters, then maybe God Mode is for you. If you also love leveling up and customizing your character, God Mode is definitely for you.

In the beginning, you’re given a sub-machine gun as a primary weapon and a double-barreled shotgun as a secondary weapon. You’ll move to different arenas until every creature in the wave has been killed. The arenas also have randomized mutators that add a little variety to the combat. For example, sometimes everyone gets unlimited ammo, temporary invincibility or the ability to explode upon death. There are also bad mutators that do things such as turning on friendly fire or giving everyone shared damage. The end of each maze contains a boss battle that will open a path of riches if you managed to beat it.

Every battle you participate in will net you experience points and coins. The XP is used for leveling up which also unlocks different gear. The coins are used to buy that gear. Want to look like an undead pirate? You can do that. You can also upgrade your special ability (temporary shield for example) and buy more weapons.

Despite some of the things I’ve read, I think God Mode is pretty fun. Sure it’s mindless fun, but fun nonetheless. The version I played (Xbox 360) didn’t have any connection issues, the frame rate was solid and the graphics are decent. Based on what I played, I think good times can be had when four friends get together. You can even turn up the difficulty once things get a bit too easy. You can do a lot worse for $10.